The boss of an organisation working to eliminate discrimination says the racist abuse directed at England footballers is a reminder that the problem has not disappeared and more needs to be done to stamp it out.

Gurvinder Sandher, CEO of Kent Equality Cohesion Council, has urged people to stand together against racism after some of the team's black players were racially abused via social media.

He said: "Whether we like it or not there is still an under current of racism in society and at times like this it comes to the fore.

"It is still a minority, which I am pleased to say.

"But, whether we like it or not, racism has not disappeared.

"I think it's really important that we as a nation, stand together and call out this racism for what it is."

Commenting on the abuse directed at England's black footballers following the team's defeat in the Euros final to Italy, he said: "Was it a surprise? Not at all.

"I was saying to my family, as soon as England lost, 'you watch and see the racist abuse that will follow'.

"And you wake up on Monday morning, disappointed obviously about the result, but to be honest that pales into insignificance to the hurt I felt for those players.

"They are young boys. It's really disappointing."

In Kent, a comic's gig was cancelled by theatre bosses after he posted a racist tweet about Jadon Sancho, Marcus Rashford and Bukayo Saka missing penalties.

Andrew Lawrence took to Twitter to inform his followers: "All I'm saying is the white guys scored."

"This is for all of us to come together and stand up against racism and stand up in support of our diverse and really great football team."

As a result, his upcoming appearance at the Hazlitt in Maidstone in October was promptly scrapped by the venue's management, Parkwood Theatres.

England player Tyrone Mings accused the Home Secretary Priti Patel of 'pretending' to be disgusted at racist abuse of his Euros team mates.

Prior to the tournament, Ms Patel described England players "taking the knee" as "gesture politics".

Yesterday, Mings tweeted: "You don’t get to stoke the fire at the beginning of the tournament by labelling our anti-racism message as ‘Gesture Politics’ & then pretend to be disgusted when the very thing we’re campaigning against, happens."

Meanwhile, Sittingbourne and Sheppey MP Gordon Henderson has defended people who booed the players when they kneeled at the start of games.

Carol Stewart from the Medway African and Caribbean Association says much more needs to be done to tackle racism

The Conservative said he did not agree with them but said it was their right to voice their disapproval. He also suggested social media companies should root out racists and refer them to the police so they can be prosecuted.

Mr Sandher said the government needed to be a lot more robust in its handling of racist abuse and called on it to "lead and bring communities together".

He urged it to work with social media companies, which he said people hid behind to abuse others, compared to when he was growing up and was racially abused in person.

And while leadership was required from the government, Mr Sandher said it would take a joint effort from organisations such as his own, local councils, police forces and the private sector to tackle the problem.

"This is for all of us to come together and stand up against racism and stand up in support of our diverse and really great football team," he added.

"Absolutely 100% there is no room in our society for any kind of racism."

Meanwhile, thousands of people have signed a petition calling for racists to be given a lifetime ban from football matches in England

KentOnline readers who responded to a question on our Facebook page overwhelmingly said they would support the introduction of a ban.

Nicky Josling went further, saying: "Life ban, BIG fine, ban from all social media sites and put on a public list for others events. There is NO place for racism in the 21st century."

Carlie Coupe agreed, posting: "Life ban, fine and block their social media accounts! They're a disgrace!"

While Kim Causton suggested: "Should be more than just a ban these people need to be easily identified by everybody because I wouldn’t even want them at my child’s sports day."

Some questioned whether a ban would work. Liz Poole wrote: "100% but u won’t stop them behaving disgustingly in the streets and on social media."

Others came up with a different approach. Janine Harris said: "I worry about the oxygen of publicity. They are probably delighted that they are causing so much distress.

"Is that not exactly what they are looking for? Would it not be possible to stifle their disgusting behaviour by ignoring it?"

But the vast majority were in favour of a ban. Lisa McPhillips wrote: "Absolutely 100% there is no room in our society for any kind of racism."

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